Red Sox bullpen falters in loss to Rangers

Scott LauberWednesday, June 05, 2013

Credit: Christopher Evans

CAN’T DANCE OUT OF IT: Koji Uehara follows through on a pitch during last night’s game at Fenway. Uehara allowed the deciding two-run double in the seventh as the Red Sox fell to the Texas Rangers, 3-2.

This time, there was no high-five gauntlet, just a quiet return to the dugout.

Tied with the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning at Fenway Park, the Red Sox turned to Uehara to bail lefty reliever Craig Breslow out of a two-on, one-out jam. And the Sox loved their chances. Uehara had yielded 16 hits and four walks in 22 innings this season and always had owned the Rangers’ Elvis Andrus, who didn’t have a hit against the pitcher in seven previous at-bats.

Surely, manager John Farrell figured, Uehara would retire Andrus, maybe even induce a double play, then race back to the dugout and launch into the barrage of high-energy high-fives and fist bumps that are his trademark after he pitches a clean inning.

So, the Red Sox never saw Andrus’ two-run double coming.

Andrus lined a double to center field, scoring Jeff Baker and Craig Gentry with the decisive runs in a 3-2 Rangers victory that evened the three-game fight for AL supremacy at Fenway Park heading into tonight’s series finale.

The Red Sox tried to rally, scoring one run in the eighth inning on Jarrod Saltalamacchi’s RBI double that scored Mike Napoli from first base. But the Sox finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranded eight baserunners and snapped their three-game winning streak.

Entering the rubber game, the Red Sox and Rangers are tied atop the AL with 36 victories apiece, although Texas remains percentage points ahead for the league’s top overall record.

On Rangers starter Alexi Ogando’s 95th and final pitch, Dustin Pedroia’s homered off a light tower above the Green Monster to tie the game, 1-1, in the sixth inning. After Pedroia’s homer in the sixth, David Ortiz and Napoli worked two-out walks against Rangers reliever Neal Cotts, but Saltalamacchia struck out, leaving the go-ahead runners on base.

The Red Sox received a strong start from John Lackey, who, like Ogando, was unable to get away with one mistake, a hanging cutter that Adrian Beltre clocked to straightaway center field for a solo homer in the fourth inning that gave Texas a 1-0 lead.

Otherwise, Lackey was effective. After allowing a leadoff double to Mitch Moreland in the third inning, he retired the next three batters to strand Moreland at third. Nelson Cruz’ two-out double in the fourth went for naught after Lackey struck out A.J. Pierzynski. And Lackey escaped a two-on, two-out threat in the fifth by getting David Murphy to ground out.

Ogando was sharp in his first start after a two-week stint on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Napoli walked in the second inning but was erased when Saltalamacchia grounded into a double play. In the third, Ogando got help from umpire Sam Holbrook, who called Stephen Drew out as he slid into second base with what would have been a double.